Calvin and Hobbes

There are some things that are unequivocally “80s”… Kajagoogoo, for example, and Pac-Man.

And then there are things that, sure, may have been born in our favorite decade but transcend space and time to be eternal… a gift from the 80s that will never stop giving.

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the greatest comic strip of all time… Calvin and Hobbes.

Created in 1985 by Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes single-handedly changed the business of comic strips. Arguably the most influential strip since Peanuts, it did away with the cheesy, silly humor of the typical strips of the day and instead gave adults (sorry, kids!) a smart, clever strip… unlilke anything we’d ever seen.

Sure, Calvin formed G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS), but only Calvin’s club would have bylaws like, “Unless forced, aiding a female will be considered treason”. How’s THAT for a six-year-old who plays with a stuffed tiger?

Calvin and Hobbes lasted for ten years (gone WAY too early), finally ending its run on what many of us 80s kids still remember as a cold New Year’s Eve Day in 1995. But, all things being equal, we’d much rather have had a solid decade of Calvinball, Susie Derkins, and babysitter Rosalyn… than never to have had it at all.